Tag Archives: food

Divers are renowned for finding strange things at the bottom of the sea. From ancient machinery to mysterious underwater structures to new and exciting species, we can be in the middle of it all. However, some of the most interesting discoveries have to do with so-called perishable items. While stone and metal can last for centuries, food is not supposed to stand up to the test of time. Or is it? I’m not talking about Twinkies, here. I mean real food that real people ate centuries ago. Food that is still edible today. Take a look…

Ever seen those “Born On” dates on beer bottles? Can you imagine one that says “Born in the 19th Century?” That’s what divers found when they discovered a nearly 200 year old shipwreck off the coast of Finland’s Adland Islands. Maybe the bottle didn’t say exactly what date it was made, but the 150 bottle of brew contained enough of their original contents that researchers could tell that the beer once tasted much like the modern stuff. After so long under the sea, some water seeped in, creating an overall unpleasant smell, yet the brew was still technically drinkable.

The divers who discovered the preserved beer in Finland also found some pretty incredible wine. Sparkling wine, as a matter of fact. 168 bottles of the ancient bubbly was found, and more incredible than that, the libation was actually well preserved. In fact, researchers were amazed to find the champagne so well preserved while resting at a depth of more than 160 feet. The wine had a leathery, flowery taste, and had remarkable low acidic levels. Since the discovery, many winemakers have begun experimenting with aging wine underwater.

Usually milk will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Cheese a little longer. But not much more than that. Can you imagine some cheese from 340 years ago actually still within its sell by date? That’s what researchers found in 1980 with the Swedish royal vessel Kronan. The warship had been sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea since 1676, and ever since researchers found it, relics have been turning up regularly. Then one day divers found a black tin can. When they opened it, the smell hit them. Cheese from the 1600s that’s still edible? Pass the crackers!

Modern day canners and food preservers could learn a thing or two from ancient Rome. We know this from the wreck found off the Italian coast. Resting in about 200 feet of water, the shipwreck had been mystifying local fishermen for years as they kept reeling in clay pot fragments. When divers finally found the wreck, they realized it contained over 200 amphora which were well sealed. So well sealed that researchers believe much of the food inside is still intact. Pickled fish for making oil, grain, wine and oil are all believed to be on the wreck.

In the ocean, it’s dog eat dog, or fish eat fish, or dolphin eat…you get it. Point is, in nature, everything and anything is up for grabs when it comes to food. We eat or we are eaten, it is as simple as that. Often, when a predator is lucky enough to snatch a meal, it gets enough to sustain itself for a short time. Sometimes the bounty is larger. Sometimes, though, a sea animal will bite off a little more than it can chew. In this post we will scope out a few instances when a marine animal eats, or tries to eat, something that usually isn’t on the menu.

Moray eel tries to swallow a shark, things don’t go quite according to plan
Have you ever seen something that looked oh so scrumptious but when you took a bite it wasn’t exactly what you were bargaining for? Those chocolate boxes come to mind. Well, this eel just had a Whitman’s Sampler moment when it tried, unsuccessfully, to eat a shark almost as big as it was. The violent video is proof positive of the stark realities of nature, and how difficult it really is for a wild animal to forge a living. Bizarre moment dolphin mistakes cellphone for a fish and leaps up to take a bite
Whenever I eat too many tacos, my gastrointestinal system lets me know about it in a most unpleasant way. I get the feeling that eating a cellphone might elicit a similar response. Good thing this friendly flipper didn’t actually gorge on the guy’s phone. However, this incident may be a great lesson for us all: don’t dangle your silvery cellphone over a hungry dolphin. Just sayin’.

Pelican Trying To Eat A Big Fish

Not much else to say here. Just a pelican stuffing itself on a fish that’s way too large to fit in its gullet.

Turtle Tries To Eat a Cat

The horror! The humanity…or the catanity (whatever that is). The world has endured many tragic moments, many times of tribulation and strife. We have witnessed horrific terrorist attacks and unspeakable natural cataclysms and other manmade disasters. We have endured death and destruction from many different sources…but nobody has ever seen the terrible turtle and his kitten-eating habit. Actually, the turtle likes to nip at the furry feline’s toes in what could only be described as the most adorable carnivorous attack ever.

Beluga Whale Tries To Eat A Baby

More marine animal cuteness here! Just like the last video, we have a delightful critter who wants nothing more than to EAT YOU! Not really. The baby is behind a wall of glass, and even if it wasn’t it doesn’t appear as if the Beluga is actually trying to eat anything. In fact, it looks like the big guys wants to have a conversation with the little one. And that might actually be the case. It’s been found that belugas can mimic human speech patterns just like parrots. Pretty cool!

Usually I try to steer clear of political debates in this blog and on USIA’s social media accounts. Too often political discussions turn negative and engender sore feelings for one or both sides, leading to no real positive outcomes. Too much emotion. Too much misinformation. Too much division.

Having said that, I encountered a message on Twitter the other day that got me thinking, which can be a dangerous thing indeed, haha! Seriously, though, the message asked an important question. First, let me set the stage. USIA, in our tireless efforts at promoting an outdoor lifestyle and all of the benefits that come with it (improved health, wellbeing, confidence), has a robust regimen of news sharing. I scour the internet daily searching for interesting tidbits and tantalizing stories that I think you, the USIA audience, might enjoy or find informative. It was in that capacity that I came across a story about how Americans are eating genetically modified organisms (GMO) without even knowing it. Basically, according to the article, GMOs have been quietly slipped into the processed foods we buy at the grocery store or eat at fast food restaurants and most of us have no idea. Alarmed, I tweeted the story and patted myself on the back for spreading awareness.

Like I wrote, the question seems innocent enough. Just an average citizen asking a simple question. But it’s not simple. It was a query designed to pull me into a political debate where the other side has no intent on opening his mind to logic or reason. Well, I won’t be dragged into a discussion where non sequiturs reign. Instead, I will write a reasoned and researched blog post to explain just what I believe is the problem. What’s wrong with GMOs? As Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, let me count the ways…

Too new and unproven
We should exercise great care with any new technology, especially one that we are going to put into our bodies. Before we started eating them, we should have isolated GMO from non GMO foods and then kept strict and focused track of them. Labeling should have been mandatory and ubiquitous, giving people the right to make their own choices about whether or not they wanted to participate in what amounts to a vast experiment on the American people. That’s what this has been, an experiment, and we still have no idea how GMOs are affecting our health. No one is doing comprehensive studies on the long term consumption of GMO foods.

The Rise of Strange Ailments
Have you read or heard about how bad and prevalent peanut allergies have become? When I was a kid, you could bring peanut butter to school and not have to think twice about it. Now they treat it like a hazardous material because there are so many children who are deathly allergic. Allergies, eczema, obesity, and several other major illnesses like diabetes have become widespread over the last decade, and GMO’s could very well be the culprit. Problem is, we don’t know.

FDA has absolutely NO GMO safety testing requirements
Let me repeat that. The FDA has absolutely no GMO safety testing requirements. That’s not a typo, and if you aren’t appalled by that then I question if you have a pulse. Even the most right wing freedom loving patriot expects certain levels of functionality from our government, and ensuring our food supply is safe should be near the top of the list. There is not one scientific study showing the effects of GMO long term in humans.

Too Much Money in the Debate
Studies showing any negative effects of GMOs are suppressed. Peer reviewing is used to quell any study that might portray GMOs in a bad light. Vague claims that GMOs are 100% safe are promoted in the mainstream media with no real details of any studies, how they were executed, and what their results were. Why is this? Because the debate is manipulated by big money, we don’t get to hear the information so we can decide for ourselves.

I could keep going on and on about this. I won’t even get into the revolving door between GMO companies and the FDA. I could write about how GMOs are not doing what proponents have claimed they would do chiefly, which is increase production. It hasn’t. And I could write about how more pesticides are being used now instead of less (as proponents promised). I could remind you of the lab rats who developed cancerous tumors after eating GMOs. I could write about how there are many safer, more reliable alternatives, farming practices that had been used for centuries but abandoned by modern, commercial farms. But I won’t. My argument has been made.

I will say this: if used wisely, it’s possible GMOs can truly be beneficial, so I try to keep an open mind about them. But I’m not hopeful.